


Adopt a Nug, Get a Kiss

by Scrunchles



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Animal Shelter AU, M/M, OC
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-08
Updated: 2015-06-08
Packaged: 2018-04-03 10:10:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4096984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scrunchles/pseuds/Scrunchles
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Yvad Trevelyan works at the Haven Animal Shelter and takes nugs around in a mobile initiative to get more adopted.  Dorian keeps seeing him at his favorite store, has no interest at all in nugs, but takes a great interest in Yvad.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Adopt a Nug, Get a Kiss

**Author's Note:**

  * For [slugette](https://archiveofourown.org/users/slugette/gifts).



> Yvad is Slugette's Inquisitor. Check out their tumblr for amazing art and more on this charming nerd.

He wasn't there when Dorian entered the store.  Two hours later and burdened with two bags, he exited the store.  There was a pen set up next to the door with the soft snuffle of what must have been a dozen or more nugs and a man sitting on a lawn chair in the middle of it all, legs stretched out and sunglasses on despite having set up in the afternoon shade.

 

He stared long enough to realize that the man's shirt said, "adopt a nug, get a kiss."

 

Dorian pursed his lips and slowly retreated back into the store.  Surely the store hadn't actually approved for a pen of filthy animals to be set up outside its doors.

 

They had.  Dorian was acquaintances with the manager, but apparently the man was closer.  

 

Leliana didn't mention how she knew Yvad Trevelyan, but she smiled when she told Dorian that allowing him to sit in front of her store was racking up community service hours for her company as long as she allowed him to sit out there.

 

She thanked him for his time and he left the store again, the man's name rolling around his mind.  

 

 _Yvad Trevelyan_.

 

This time, the man wasn't alone.  A couple with two children was looking at the nugs, and Yvad was sitting in the midst of clinging, climbing, sniffling and bleating nugs that all wanted attention at once.  The little girl pointed to one of the nugs, and he snatched it up with a careful hand, checking the gender and instructing her on how to hold it so that it felt calm and wouldn't try to get away.

 

"I want to name him Tibalt!" She finally decided, after holding and petting the nug for several minutes.  She turned two wibbling eyes up to her parents and obviously upped the charm as they shrugged helplessly and agreed that she could keep Tibalt.

 

Yvad grinned when the girl's brother tugged his father's sleeve and asked if he was getting one too.

 

Dorian leaned against the concrete barrier outside the store like he was waiting for a ride and continued to watch from the corner of his eye.

 

The boy wanted a nug that was a different color from his sister's, and Yvad had to hunt through all of the pink nugs before he found another male.  He carefully gave the same instructions to the little boy as he handed the nug over.

 

Dorian shivered as the thing's grippy little feet clung to Yvad's fingers.

 

"Alright, here's your kisses," Yvad pulled out two chocolates from an insulated bag and handed them over to the children, once they had handed their new nugs off to their father.

 

The little boy eagerly unwrapped the foil from his treat and popped it in his mouth while the little girl pouted.  "I wanted to kiss a prince!"

 

Yvad laughed and scooted forward to kneel at the edge of the pen. The girl's parents were apologizing, but Yvad offered her his hand and cupped her tiny fingers gently.  "Very well, princess," he said before pressing his lips to her knuckles gently.

 

The little girl grinned ecstatically and that was that.  

 

She had her nug, chocolate and a kiss from a prince.  Her mother lectured her on rudeness as they walked away, and Dorian continued to watch the handsome man sit amongst the nugs and look like he was having the time of his life.

 

It took a while, but Dorian strayed closer to the pen finally, when Yvad seemed to be content to sit amidst the grippy vermin.  He occasionally greeted customers as they entered and left, smiling and hefting his bag of chocolates in response to the curious looks his shirt got him.  He petted and played with the nugs when he was alone and allowed them to search his hands and up his shirt for tasty treats.

 

It was strangely endearing to watch, and Dorian was capable of watching that one wheel-chair-puppy video with a straight face.

 

"Are you looking to adopt?"  Violet eyes turned up to look up at Dorian over the dark shades and he looked down at the nugs immediately rather than hold that stare.  He’d gotten too close.  "They're all great for kids," Yvad supplied.

 

"Do I look like I have children?" Dorian asked, not even trying to act offended as he hesitantly crouched next to the pen.

 

"Not really, but you do look like a stylish uncle intent on paying your siblings back for all the times they underestimated you as a child."

 

Dorian looked up at Yvad again and found himself matching the handsome man's smile.

 

"If I weren't an only child, I would be," he admitted with a soft chuckle.  "To be completely honest with you, though, I would much rather adopt you," Dorian said, eyeing the dark bun Yvad's hair was pulled into.  He wondered how long it was.  It probably framed his face beautifully, dark contrasting with light skin.  It was something he looked forward to seeing.

 

"Sorry," Yvad replied candidly. "I'm not up for adoption, but this little guy is."  He reached beneath his shirt and pushed a nug that had crawled halfway up his chest out of the neck hole of his t-shirt and gave Dorian the most charming smile he'd ever seen, and Dorian practiced his own in the mirror. 

 

"Uh..." Dorian eyed the nug, watched its creepy little feet grip the collar of the shirt and shook his head.  The flirting could have gone worse.  "No.  Thank you, though." He stood and brushed his knees off, though they had never touched the ground.  "Good luck, I hope you all find nice homes."  He winked at Yvad, and was pleased to get another charming smile in return.

 

It wasn't the last time he saw Yvad.  The man was persistent, and there seemed to be an endless supply of nugs in need of homes at Haven Animal Shelter.  Each time he saw Yvad, he thought about sticking around and attempting to flirt with the man again, but rarely did he see the man without children or teens clustered at the edge of the cage.  They constantly wanted to hold the nugs.  Regardless of age or level of world-weary apathy, the creepy little animals seemed to entice everyone who passed by.

 

Just because he didn't talk to the man again didn't mean that Dorian and Yvad didn't acknowledge each other.  No matter how busy he seemed to be, Yvad always nodded at Dorian and flashed him a smile.  He thought that it might just be what he did to draw people into his little nug-adoption scam, but the charming smiles grew to winks and eyebrow wiggles quickly, and Dorian  _knew_  that those were for him.  Everyone else received the politest, most cursory greeting, usually verbal.  Dorian received  _that_ smile, a glance over his sunglasses, and a wink that made him pause a step and return the smile.

 

Maybe he wasn't as disinterested as he had let on.

 

One of the things that Dorian noticed about Yvad with each new meeting was that his shirt changed.  He had at least five of them, all variations of "adopt a nug, get a desireable item that will draw you in but it's rarely what you think and once you hold one of these little bastards, you can't put it down."

 

Except the hug one.  That day he just went ahead and gave either one armed squeezes or two armed embraces depending on the adopter and their preference.  Dorian was sorely tempted to stick around and talk to him again on that day, but he actually  _was_  waiting on a ride, and wouldn't make Josephine wait ten minutes just so that he could flirt with a man who allowed nugs to crawl up his shirt at will. 

 

When they finally spoke again, it was Yvad who finally caught him coming out of the store and jokingly barked at him now that he was alone for once.

 

Dorian smiled and walked over.  "I'm not really a dog person, but have you come to your senses? Ready for a nice new master?" He set his bag down and rested his hands on his hips.  "Or, at the very least, dinner and stimulating conversation."

 

Yvad just laughed and shrugged apologetically, "sorry, I left my papers back at the shelter.  What a shame."

 

"Indeed."  Dorian wondered at the fact that it didn't feel like Yvad was turning him down.  He wondered if he was being let down easy or led on.  Either way, he felt more encouragement than aversion from the other man, and turned on his own charming smile. "Do you really need papers to go on a date, though?"

 

"Oh, yes."  Yvad removed his sunglasses and winked at him.  "Lots of paperwork and I'll have to tell my coworkers all the details—oh, and there's actually a rule at the shelter that I can't date a guy with no animals, so I would have to get you to adopt one first."

 

Dorian scoffed and crossed his arms.  "How do you know I don't have animals?" He asked, though he felt like he already knew the answer.

 

"You never have any shedded hair on you, and you always look at the nugs like they're going to make off with your wallet and purchases."  Yvad's laugh lit up his eyes.

 

Dorian frowned and stared down at the pile of nugs in Yvad's lap.

 

"Does it have to be a nug?" he asked finally.

 

"Not at all.  We have lots of different animals at Haven, it's just that we have a surplus of nugs... All the time.  They aren't the most popular pets," Yvad explained, gently stroking a sleepy nug's snout.

 

"You don't say?" Dorian believed it.  He believed it with every fiber of his being.

 

"Oh, here's our card."  Yvad handed Dorian a business card for Haven Animal Shelter.  It was cheaply printed with the tag line, "HAS has heart!  Proudly no-kill since Modern 20:10."

 

"Just in case you'd like to swing by the shelter sometime and look at the non-nugs.  Maybe we can find you a low-shed puppy," he offered.

 

"I'm more of a cat person," Dorian admitted, pulling out his wallet to carefully tuck the card inside.  He had no interest in animals, but felt himself being dragged in by striking violet eyes and a charming smile.

 

:::::

 

The shelter smelled of too many animals with a strange undercurrent of chemical cleaners.

 

There appeared to be no one at the front desk until Dorian heard it as he approached: a rich laugh and the now-familiar snuffle of a content nug.

 

Dorian looked over the high desk and saw Yvad lying on the floor, dark hair splayed around him and a large pink nug snuffling his face and hobbling around in a surprisingly playful manner as he swatted at the increasingly affectionate nug.

 

Dorian smiled and leaned on the desk, watching silently and with only a little personal disgust as the nug seemed intent on rubbing its gross little trunk-like nose all over Yvad's face before moving on to his neck.

 

Yvad made the briefest laugh, which caused Dorian to chuckle himself.

 

Yvad's eyes snapped open, and he craned his neck to look up at Dorian.  "Oh!" He shoved the nug off of him and there was a flush at his cheeks as he sat up and pulled the collar of his shirt up so that he could wipe his face on the inside.

 

As he stood, he ran his hands through his hair to sweep it back into a ponytail using a complicated motion that looked like magic to Dorian.

 

He politely waited until Yvad had finished composing himself before smirking.  "So, do you just let every nug you come across have their way with you?"

 

"I haven't the slightest idea what you're talking about," Yvad replied innocently.

 

Dorian laughed and watched a bit of bang fall to frame Yvad's left cheek. 

 

"Well, I do hope they have all your adoption papers in order," Dorian said playfully, leaning on the desk between them and giving the other man an expectant look.  “I hope I didn’t come all this way just to be shot down again.”

 

"Not quite.  I'm actually surprised you stopped by-- it's been a while…" Yvad pointed out.

 

"Yes, well, I'm just joking, of course."  Dorian felt a pull on his pant leg and looked down to see the large nug gripping the hem of his trousers.  He nudged it away gently with his foot before continuing, "my flat is lonely, and you only ever bring nugs out with you.  Do you have cats here as well?"

 

"Oh, yeah, I'll show you back."  Yvad made a kissing noise with his lips and crooned, "Schmoopie."

 

The nug left off of accosting Dorian's pants to return around the desk and allowed Yvad to put it in a pen Dorian had neglected to notice before. 

 

" 'Schmoopie'?  Are we at the disgusting pet names stage already?" Dorian asked with a wry smirk.

 

There was another nug asleep within the pen, and "Schmoopie" decided to flop down on top of it, startling it awake with a squeal.  

 

Yvad tutted at the nugs before flashing Dorian a wink as he came around the desk.  He headed for one of the doors off to the side of the main entry room.  "Oh, please, for me to give you a disgusting nickname I would have to know your actual name first."

 

Dorian noticed that Yvad's jeans had some suspect stains on them, but was willing to look past them for the attractive way the clothing fit him.

 

"Speaking of, does my flirting make you uncomfortable?" He asked as Yvad lead him into a small hallway with a sink on one side and an assortment of collars and cheap, braided leashes hanging on the opposite wall.

 

Yvad glanced back at him with a small frown.  "Not at all.  I'm flattered and I flirt back.  Why would you--"

 

"You never ask me for my contact information you don't want to know my name, and we don't really ever talk besides joking about me adopting you, which was... Not at all what I intended to say that first moment, but it just... Slipped out," Dorian admitted, watching Yvad pause at the sink to wash his hands and following suit when he noticed a, "please wash hands before entering," sign on the only other door in the small hallway.

 

Yvad laughed and lead Dorian through the door, into a small atrium.  The three doors were labeled, "dogs," "cats," and the third one had been labeled, "misc," at one point, but that had since been marked out and, "NUGS!" was written on it.

 

Dorian smiled at the change and followed Yvad through the cat door.

 

Their entrance instantly started a meowing din among the cages.  Yvad crossed to one of the cages that lined the left side of the room and pulled out a long haired, fluffy white cat whose mashed in nose made Dorian feel like it was trying to threaten him from Yvad's arms.  "This one is my favorite," Yvad told him with a smile.  Despite the distempered look Dorian felt like he was getting, the car immediately began to purr when Yvad stared petting it and it's eyes closed a bit, further lending to the impression that it would track Dorian down and claw him at some point.  "What _is_ your name?"  Yvad finally asked, crossing back to where Dorian stood awkwardly attempting to appear casual in a room full of animals—animals with fur that was already beginning to float about and get on his clothes.

 

"Dorian Pavus," he said, petting the cat when it was offered to him, but refusing to take it into his arms.

 

"Alright, Dorian Pavus.  My name is Yvad Tevelyan."  His grin made Dorian hot beneath the collar of his shirt.  Yvad pronounced his own name much more attractively than Leliana's Orlesian accent ever could.  "What are you looking for?"

 

"Oh, something I can enjoy.  Long or short term, it's really up to how well our chemistry--"

 

"I mean in a  _cat_."  Yvad laughed and nudged him lightly with his elbow as he turned to put the puffy white car back in its cage.

 

Dorian smirked at the rebuttal and gave the question some thought before replying.  

 

"I want minimal shedding and something that will curl up in my lap after a long day while I read."

 

"Do you want affection and playfulness as well?"  Yvad asked, not looking at Dorian, but rather at the cages lined up while he locked the white cat in and took stock of what they had.

 

"Ideally."  Dorian nodded, drawing closer to Yvad with a small smile.

 

"Are we still talking about cats?" Yvad asked, turning to face Dorian with one eyebrow quirked.

 

"Of course."  Dorian raised a brow right back and felt a rush at how  _easy_  it was to talk to this man.

 

"I think one of the little color point mixes will do well for you, then." Yvad gently touched Dorian's shoulder to lead him over to a slightly larger cage where several kittens were housed together.  "They're low maintenance grooming-wise and shed little.  They're affectionate and intelligent--"

 

"Please stop describing me and focus on the cats, Yvad."  Dorian interjected with a dramatic sigh.

 

" _You're_  low maintenance?"  Yvad laughed and nudged him lightly with his elbow before bending to open the cage and retrieve two of the kittens.  He closed the cage back with his knee and leaned against it to keep the other kittens from pushing their jealous little way out into the room.

 

"I'll have you know that my morning routine takes less time than the morning news," Dorian told Yvad, hesitating when he was offered one of the kittens.

 

Yvad shifted one of the kittens to the crook of his arm so that he had a free hand and carefully took Dorian's hands to position them so that he could safely hold the kitten.

 

"The news is an hour—just like that—you know."  Yvad slowly let go of Dorian's hands, leaving the kitten safely within his grasp.  The one in the crook of his arm wiggled to get out and he carefully maneuvered it securely into his arms.

 

“And that’s a long time?” Dorian asked, giving Yvad a pout.  His attention was pulled away from the other man when the kitten in his hands wrapped its paws around his wrist and began purring and nuzzling his hand.  “Oh.”  A rough tongue licked his thumb before little sharp teeth nibbled right behind.  The kitten continued to purr contently and continued to nuzzle Dorian’s fingers. 

 

Dorian carefully shifted the kitten so that he was cradling it in one arm and began petting its back with the hand that it wasn’t holding hostage.  The purring intensified and Dorian smiled softly. 

 

When he looked back up at Yvad, he felt self-conscious.  Yvad’s expression was softer somehow, his mouth curved in a gentle smile, and his eyes... well, they looked happy, but Dorian wasn’t sure what he’d done.

 

“What?” Dorian asked, fingering a soft, fuzzy ear between his thumb and forefinger.

 

“Let’s go out sometime,” Yvad said, gently stopping the kitten he was holding from clawing its way up his shirt to his shoulder.

 

Dorian smiled and looked back down at the white kitten in his hands, slowly gaining little darker lines of color on its face and legs.  It just seemed happy to be held. 

 

“On one condition,” Dorian said, watching the kitten’s eyes close as he scratched the top of its head.

 

Dorian looked back up when Yvad asked, “what condition is that?”

 

“I can take this little one home with me.”


End file.
